The BoltBlast Chronicles
by Shadow Snivy
Summary: Destiny brings a vulpix from a nobody town in the desert and a famous breakdancer from the only town on the map together. They each coincidently have a glowing scar from their birth and they soon found out that their meeting was no coincidence and also discover they have the pokemon world in their hands...
1. The Two Tales

**Here's my new Fanfiction called,**

**Team BoltBlast**

**I'm making this story for my first fan who added me as a favorite author**

**And he really likes Pikachu so this story has a Pikachu in it**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

_**Chapter 1: Team BoltBlast, The Beginning**_

_**Inferno's tale**_

**Inferno's view**

"Inferno, you'll be late for school! Hurry up or you'll have to walk by yourself!" Mom yelled up into the bedroom. The cave walls and the artificial walls made out of dried up cactus, bones, and sticks rattled as she yelled through the den. I groaned in frustration, with the fact that I shared my room with my two annoying twin brothers wasn't enough. I quickly looked around for my backpack to use for Flamo elementary today, making sure that my curls on my head was neat and my six tails wasn't messy. I checked my torn ear to make sure it was okay and then my scar. My scar was on my left hind leg, and seemed to glow occasionally like fire.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back so she wouldn't yell again. I finally found my backpack in the far corner and quickly strapped it on. My backpack was sewn out of leaves from an oasis, which was pretty neat. I rushed into the kitchen to see what we had for today's bad breakfast. On the table carefully weaved together out of twigs and sticks, I saw five wooden carved plates, two of them clean, two almost clean, and one full plate, mine. My mom and dad were eating while my vulpix twin brothers were at the entrance to the den with their own leaf backpacks strapped on, the desert terrain behind them. On my plate were slightly rotten Rawst and Leppa berries.

"You better hurry up and eat champ, or you'll have to walk to school by yourself. And you know what kind of weirdo's there are out there, bandits, thieves, criminals, and, sometimes… humans," Pa informed me, as he always does when I oversleep. I quickly looked over at the giant carved wooden bowl we had in the corner of the kitchen, which was used to store either food or water. Today it was stored with berries Pa had collected last night in the far off forest. I quickly sat down on the sandy floor in front of the table, and waited for my parents to look away. When they were looking at Flame and Ember, I hurried and stuffed my breakfast into my leaf backpack.

"Ha, ha, look at how slow he's eating. You better hurry up Slowbro!" Ember yelled at me, even though he wasn't even looking.

"Hurry up; you don't want to be caught by humans do you? Oh wait, you won't, no one likes Slowbro's!" Flame teased, it not being very clever. I hated my brothers; they always yell at me, call me a freak, mess up my life, and call me Slowbro since I'm their bro and they think I'm slow, but I wasn't slow at all.

"Okay I'm done see you later bye!" I told my parents so quickly, that I didn't have any time to stop between my sentences. I ran up to the cave entrance where Ember and Flame waited, and I saw Flame tapping his paw impatiently.

"Last one to school is a _mega _Slowbro!" Ember and Flame teased me simultaneously and they were already running on the path to school, kicking up sand clouds. I used quick attack to catch up, a move they didn't know how to use yet. I quickly sped past them, several meters ahead. I looked back at them with a mocking face and gloated.

"Look at the _twin _mega Slowbros now. Ha ha ha-" I should've been looking ahead, because that was when I rammed into a cactus, and I screamed out in pain. Covered in prickles and newly bloody scratches, I quickly started to take out the prickles. With each prickle I took out, I cried out a yip of pain. When finished, I had just noticed Flame and Ember had already run ahead of me, most likely close to school. I hurried and I started running again, ignoring the pain, and careful to run fast enough so that I would get to school quickly. Even with the torn ear I had, I could hear the loud houndoom howl which was used like a school bell, informing me that I was nearly late. Since I was about 1/8 a mile away, and started to run with all the strength I had left. I could make out every student walking through the side doors which were created out of bones. If I had my math correct, I had two more minutes till those side doors closed, and if I didn't make it, I would have to go through the front doors and get a tardy slip. I quickly ran up to the side doors, running up steps made out of stone slabs, hoping I had made it just in time.

_**BAM!**_ I stumbled backward, nearly falling down the steps from ramming into the doors which had quickly slammed shut. The howl of the houndoom symbolized that class started, and was the howl telling anyone outside had to head through the front doors. I rubbed forehead that had a newfound bruise. I then heard Ember's voice, which came out of what should have been a window next to these side doors, but was really just a carved out square in the stone wall.

"Looks like you're the mega _clumsy _Slowbro here. Ha, ha, ha, ha…" He pointed his paw at me when he laughed. Flame came over to the window and joined in with triumph. The thing with the Slowbro was just getting old by now. Irritated, I snarled at my brothers and I marched to the front of the school, quickly running up stone slab steps and through bone-carved doors.

That was the time I should've been in my map class. In the map class, you learn how to read all the kinds of maps, and about every single spot in this region, so like forests and stuff. Maps were my favorite class actually, and today we were supposed to get our own treasure maps!

While looking around for the wooden doors which showed me which one was the main office, I thought about the plan I had which I was going to put in action at the end of the school year, which was ending in a week. My dream ever since third grade was to be an explorer, while being an expert battler to put criminals behind bars. I already had planned how to start my dream. Around the end of the school year, my grandpa was supposed to pick me up so I could go to Moon Junior High which was in a forest. I was going to run off into the desert with all the food I'd collected from breakfast and other stuff, before my grandpa would get there. He then would think I was with my parents still while my parents would think I was with him. Of course, in about a month or maybe a year they'd find out, but I'd be long gone by then.

I entered the main office then went into the attendance office, aka, Mrs. Applepie's office. Mrs. Applepie was a nice charmeleon, a red lizard-like Pokémon that had a tan belly, a nice shade of blue eyes, and a flame on the end of her tail. The flame on her tail usually grows to three times its size when she's angry, and her rampages and meltdowns are never fun. I walked up to the attendance counter, which was carefully carved out of maple tree logs.

"One tardy slip," I asked for, feeling a bit guilty for being in her office fourteen times just that semester.

"The name is-"

"I should know your name by now Inferno; since this is your 34th tardy. Even though you haven't been absent at all this year, you should already know that five tardies is considered an absence, and you know our strict policy," Mrs. Applepie started. She was about to go into a short, boring speech again. "Here at Flamo elementary, seven absences are too much learning gone, being away from school all the same. Our teachings here for fire type pupils are vigorous and important. Every student here deserves the right education in order to have a successful career in their life. If you do your math correctly, you can see another tardy for you can be equal to seven absences, which will force you to retake sixth grade." My muscles tensed and my ears stood on end. If I was tardy one more time, my plan could backfire, not to mention disappointing my parents for being held back.

"Okay, I promise, I won't be delayed from school for the rest of the year," I promised Mrs. Applepie. She gave me my tardy slip, which in this school was a bone with footprint ruins carved into them. I hurried and ran through the empty halls to class. My maps class was located at the end of the hall on the underground floor. Entering the classroom, I noticed Mr. Flare, my houndoom teacher, wasn't there, so I sighed in relief. If I could guess, he would be in the teachers' lounge wolfing down some delicious snack. I sat down in front of the block of wood that was considered my desk, right next to a cyndaquil and a pink vulpix. The cyndaquil was my best friend, Lava, while the pink vulpix was my other best friend and also my crush, Rosy.

Lava was very wild, and he could barely control his fire which was blue instead of red or yellow. He doesn't care if he gets into trouble and loves to battle. Rosy has a rose pin on her ear that was given to her from a leavanny. Rosy combs her curls and tails every morning and loves to learn about different maps and places, just like me. She has unnatural, but cute purple eyes that when I look into, I get lost in them. She was also a tomboy, which makes me like her even more.

"Dude, why are you late, again, with all those scratches?" she asked, referring to the scratches I had gotten earlier.

"I ran into a cactus," I answered. Lava snickered a bit.

"Man, what did the Mrs. Applepie say? She always says something to you," Rosy asked.

"She said that if I'm tardy one more time, I won't be able to graduate and go to my grandpa's den."

"That's terrible, she can't do that."

"Apparently she can," I replied miserably.

"Stop talking about that, time for us to plan that adventure bro," Lava interrupted. My ears stood on end, since I remembered that I was heading off into the wilderness with Lava and Rosy to start a rescue team, but Rosy didn't know that yet. It wasn't the right time to ask her, and I wanted everything to sound perfect, so I waved a signal to make Lava to stop talking.

"So, are we going to go through the short and dangerous route, or the one that is long with many curves but it is safer and less Pokémon to attack?" Lava continued, not understanding what I was trying to tell him.

"Inferno, what is he talking about?" Rosy questioned, making me sigh and I explained what I was going to do.

"Really, well, I can't go," she said. She turned her head so she wouldn't make eye contact with me. I was shocked by her reply.

"My parents want me to have a steady education and to grow up to do something that would get me a lot of Poké. They wouldn't let me go with you guys and I wouldn't be able to escape, since they smother me like butter on toast." The tone in her voice was raspy as she explained, and my ears lowered and I accidently gave a small whimper. "Also, if I did try and leave, Combusken would try to convince me to stay, or else force me."

"You mean that orange and yellow chicken brute, the school bully? You're dating him, right?" She answered with a short nod. I growled at the thought of that chicken dude. He did not deserve a girl like Rosy, for everything he's done to innocent Pokémon. I could imagine Rosy with Combusken, and also imagine what it would be like if the brute got mad at Rosy, and what he would do. Rosy hated to fight, and Combusken could _never control his temper!_

"Rosy, that bully isn't the right guy for you, and you know it," I told her seriously.

"Well then who _is _the right guy for me?" she asked. My six red tails started to quiver nervously. Should I reveal that I liked her?

I looked away from her. "I… I k-kind of… Actually I… I… I don't know," I stammered, nearly telling her. I sighed to myself, hoping Rosy didn't hear the sigh. I looked over at Lava, and he just shrugged. Lava knew about my crush on Rosy, and there was no doubt he thought I did the wrong thing not telling her.

That was when Mr. Flare galloped in the classroom like a ponyta. "Sorry for being late chaps, free lava cakes were in the teacher's lounge. I just couldn't resist and gobbled half of the lot old lads," Mr. Flare said in his usual British accent. Through the whole class, it was hard to concentrate, and I kept on looking over at Rosy. It seemed like she couldn't focus on Mr. Flare's constant blabber either. She looked depressed the whole time. I wondered if it was because she couldn't go with me to join my rescue team, or if it was something else.

_*After class*_

"Wow, look at this map, we can travel anywhere we want, and look at all the choices! We can live at a waterfall, or we can live in the apple woods, or we can live in treasure town, the only town that is marked on the map. This adventure will be the best ever!" Lava told me, very enthusiastic. The free maps were the best, and now we didn't have to go to a forest, but we can go to the volcano which was on the map, a perfect place to go. Lava, Rosy, and I were walking through the halls. The next class I had was with Rosy, but Lava was in some other class. After a minute, Lava went down a different hallway, leaving Rosy and I alone.

I looked over at Rosy. She hadn't said a single word ever since the awkward conversation we had that morning. Her head curls seemed a bit messy, one drooping down in the middle of her face. I got close to her, using one of my tails to move the curl back in place.

"Rosy, I need to tell you something," I told her. Her ears pricked up in surprise, her sad expression turning into one of anticipation.

"Yes, Inferno?" she asked. I was relieved that she was still talking to me. I gulped; knowing the only way to make Rosy happy again was to tell her that I loved her, hopefully.

"I've been dying to tell you this for a long time, but never had the courage. Ever since that first day in kindergarten all those years ago, I've nearly died inside from holding this in." We stopped walking in the hallway and stood on the sidelines, unnoticed. I sweat dropped, nervous that I was about to tell her what I've been trying to say for years.

I stared into her deep purple eyes, my mind misty from her beauty. My tails started to quiver nervously. I nearly started to get lost in her eyes that shined like a purple gem. Rosy gave out a bright smile, which seemed to light up the hallway.

"Rosy, I… I… I'm sorry; it's really hard to say." I scratched the back of my neck shyly. She looked over at me reassuringly.

"I… I… I want to say that… I want to say, that…" I couldn't help but stammer.

"I… l-l-o…" I started to feel sweaty. I then took in a deep breath and said it quickly.

"I love you," I finally managed to get out. When it was said, I felt like a weight that I didn't know about was taken off my shoulders. I continued to stare into her eyes, hoping that she wouldn't reject me.

"Inferno, I love you too," she replied, my heart beating with joy. I felt myself blushing, my cheeks a slight tint redder than usual. I then nuzzled her cheek affectionately, showing her how happy I was. She then leaned in and licked my cheek, all my muscles tensed.

"Inferno, I haven't been this happy in my entire life," she revealed, making me blush a bit more. I pulled her in for a kiss, which she returned happily. It seemed to last for a few seconds but also for a lifetime. She broke the kiss, having to breathe.

We then started to walk side by side to our next class, walking so close to each other that her warm, beautifully groomed pelt was rubbing against mine.

In class, our teacher, a blazikan named Mister Blast, said he was going to give us the final. We all walked as a class to the Blaster Room, a room that was roughed up from fiery battles that take place in there. While walking through the halls, I saw Combusken, with his arm around Rosy. She looked very, very uncomfortable. I could tell she didn't have the guts yet to break up with him, but I couldn't help but feel angry, like a wildfire was taking place in my stomach.

"Okay class, this will be a test for all you learned, you will fight till one Pokémon is left not passed out. Whoever is the last one standing will be guaranteed to walk out at the end of the graduation ceremony with flying colors." I quickly thought up of a battling strategy. "Ready, set, go!" Mister Blast yelled before suddenly setting us into a war. If I won this major battle, my plan wouldn't backfire!

I quickly jumped behind a huge boulder that was on the battlefield and I watched the others battle with varies of fire type moves. I hid behind the boulder till one remained, Combusken. He squawked in joy, and I could barely keep myself from laughing. Staring at his face, all I could feel was anger for what he forces Rosy into doing, and how uncomfortable she always feels. When he was about to declare victory, I jumped out and prepared the cool move I was working on, Inferno Blast Spiral. It's a mix between the move fire blast, inferno, and spinning with a quick attack It rarely works and I can only use it at the beginning of the battle, and if it succeeds or not, I almost faint. I quickly powered up a fire blast attack, then I quickly used inferno into the center, already exhausted. Since the fire would soon create a huge explosion, I quickly used quick attack into the middle and thought that the heat would be too unbearable, or the fire would explode from lack of concentration, but I luckily hanged in there, barely. I spinned through the air at lightning speed and forest fire heat, and crashed into the chicken with a huge explosion. I was thrown back by the impact, hitting the stone slab wall.

The room was covered in ashes and all the passed out Pokémon camouflaged into the floor, including myself. I hurt my head badly, throbbing from the impact and I had a deathly headache, but I could get up. I looked at Combusken's body, to see all the damage I've done. Combusken was passed out on the floor, face down and covered in ashes. I walked over to him, limping, and put a paw on his head to keep him down. He was barely conscious. I leaned in close and whispered in his ear.

"You don't deserve a girl like Rosy, you prick. If I ever see your face around her again, I will crush you," I growled into his ear. His eyes were wide in shock. I then put another paw on his head, giving more of a throbbing pain to him.

I then realized what I was doing, and how I threatened him. Blinking in disbelief, I got off his barely conscious body, looking over at Mister Blast so he declares the winner.

"This is a victory for the obvious you can see; I declare the winner is Inferno!" I realized at that point he was only announcing it to me, since everyone else was passed out or barely conscious. I wobbled on my legs, one of my hind legs aching painfully. I smiled in triumph.

I couldn't stay up any longer, and I fell limp to the floor and blacked out.

_*An unknown day*_

I woke up in a room that mostly looked white. I saw shots, bandages, berries, and casts all over the room. I was on top of a block of wood, where hurt Pokémon rested. This was the school clinic, I observed. I had a lot of bandages, with one wrapping around my left hind leg which was where that scar was. The last thing I remembered was that I was announced winner of that major battle, and I must have passed out after that. Then, what day was it?

"_Please, let me see Inferno!"_

"_No, he's not awake yet; you've been visiting everyday three times. There isn't a good chance that he will wake up today. Now just go home!"_

"_Please, I really want to see how he is!"_

The voices kept going on outside, with one voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my paw on it.

"_Fine, but make it quick."_

The bone-carved door in the front of the room creaked open, and on the other side was Rosy. I thought it would be someone like my mom.

"He's up, he's up, he's up!" she screamed. She ran over and nuzzled me on the cheek. My ears stood on end, and my cheeks became fifty shades of red and pink.

"Rosy, you're okay," I licked her on the cheek. "Did you break up with Combusken?" Some reason that question seemed to always be in the corners of my mind.

"Of course, I'm with you now." I jumped down from the wood block, realizing I felt better than I thought I was. I rubbed my muzzle against Rosy's warm flank, burrowing my muzzle into her soft pink pelt.

I then felt an anchoring feeling of dread on my shoulders. Rosy might have finally been my girlfriend, but… I was about to leave for my journey, and I was going to leave Rosy here. I felt my heart sank in despair. Rosy was going to head off for Moon Junior High, without me.

I didn't tell her about me leaving for the journey. I planted a gentle cheek on Rosy's cheek, which was a bright pink color.

"Now hurry, the ceremony is starting," Rosy said before grabbing my paw and started dragging me into the multi-purpose room.

_*After the ceremony*_

With my leaf backpack stuffed with all the food I had saved from breakfast, and the food I had gotten from the ceremony, I looked out into the desert, Lava by my side. His back lit up in a collage of blue flames. Rosy was by my side, her ears lowered in disbelief. She leaned against me, her pelt brushing over mine. She burrowed her muzzle into my red pelt, warm tears starting to soak into my fur. I nuzzled her reassuringly, and whispered into her ear, "I will come visit you at Moon Junior High, I promise." I licked her muzzle, as she returned the favor in the kiss. I nuzzled her under the bright desert sun, her eyes full of tears. Lava didn't seem to notice our sad expressions, as he surveyed the wide terrain of desert that seemed to stretch for miles.

"I love you," I whispered in her ear before she started to take a few steps back. Tears filled her purple gem eyes, her beautiful eyes sparkling. I shedded a tear at the thought of leaving her, clenching my paws to the gritty sand to hold it back. I walked up to her, licking my smooth tongue up against her cheek, licking up her salty tears. I shared another passionate kiss with her, a single tear falling off my fur into the desert sand. I stared into her deep purple eyes, my mind swimming with thoughts of what would happen to her when I left her. Nuzzling her cheek one last time, I ran off into the desert, Lava quickly running after me. Tears streamed down my face and stained my fur, knowing that the journey would be a long one full of torture, my mind on Rosy every single day.

_**Bolt's tale**_

**Bolt's view**

_*One Monday afternoon, at the crossroads of Treasure Town*_

I started to finish off my breakdancing, all the watching fans starting to leave. Finished for the day, I checked the blue baseball cap that lied a few feet away from me, full of Poké. I counted my earnings slowly, noticing that I collected 362 Poké. It was enough money for a good dinner of apples. I headed toward the Kecleon market, the baseball cap in my yellow paws as I walked.

"How much apples can 362 poke cost my dogs?" I asked the green Kecleon.

"Let's see, we only have three apples in stock for today, and one big apple, so that would cost 250 Poké." I handed over the Poké in exchange for the food, the Kecleon happily accepting the offer.

"Okay, here's your change-"

"Don't worry, you can keep it, you deserve it," I interrupted. I gave them a bright smile.

"Thanks Bolt. You're always so nice to everybody. In fact, you don't care if you starve for a few days from giving all your Poké away to a homeless child, you will help whenever you can," Kecleon explained to me, even though he didn't have to. I do have a hip hop attitude, not selfish and mean in the lightest.

"See ya dogs later!" I screamed back at them as I was dragging a bag full of apples to my domain. The blue baseball cap was now empty, and now on top of my head, backwards like a DJ and my ears sticking out through two holes. The Kecleon brothers are okay that I call them dogs, they actually like having a nickname, and they don't get out much.

I arrived at my small little hut, looking as run down as always. The hut is like one of those teepees near the stores in Treasure town, but not like a triangle, more like a square. The hut was made out of bricks and seaweed that sometimes washes up onto the beach, but how the bricks showed up from the sea was a mystery to me. I stared at the hut, standing on the sand of the beach close to Treasure Town.

Well, how bricks got in the sea makes me curious, but the unusual strong currents are probably what got them here. The currents still have been going on for years now. I always wanted to check it out, but it's too dangerous, I need a team for me to go into it at all, but nobody agrees to help me, not even my sister.

The hut had no doors and one wood-carved cabinet to store any leftover food. We had two rooms; one was the bedroom with the straw beds, and the other was the kitchen where we had a cabinet and a sheet of marble for a table, but it doesn't make that much of a difference with the table, it has no table legs so it's like we're eating off the ground. My family was the poorest in Treasure town; so many people liked to donate to us by just throwing some Poké in my hat when I was breakdancing, even though some of them hated dancing.

There is one place that I wanted to visit in Treasure town, and it's Wigglytuff's Guild. As soon as I had someone to join a team with me, I'll start a rescue team and stop dancing in the middle of the crossroads and go find some Poké, for my family.

"Hey Bolt, how was your day?" my mom asked me.

"It was okay my peep, and today was a good day, I brought home some apples for a pie, aren't I right?" I answered then questioned.

"Fine, apple pie it is, but can you call me by mom for once, it is just very misleading and irritating when you call me a peep." As a kid, my mom took expert cooking classes and now she was a pure gourmet chef. She would work for money with her skill, but there wasn't a place for her to work in Treasure Town and she would have to be there all day, but I have to stay close to protect her.

"Whoa, hold your ponytas. I'm helping and working all day, I expect to come home and be myself with my family," I explained.

I went to my sister's room, she was now 18 years old and she is going to leave the house soon, and it'll just be me and my mom, since my dad died to save me when I was a baby. That is why I have to protect my mom, I can't lose her.

_**Flashback**_

_I was just learning to walk, we had a hut, but a different one made out of sticks and straw and we weren't that poor as now. My dad said it was time to take me by the ocean so I could play in the shallow water._

"_Here you go Bolt, you should play in the water, and maybe you could become a surfer just like me, your old pappy." He set me down in the shallow water. I splashed and giggled, having a great time. Who knew being in the water could be this much fun? Oh wait; it was my dad who knew. This was when the unusual currents started._

"_Whoa boy, time for us to go inside. The high tide is coming." He didn't know it, but it was too late. The currents washed over me and pulled me out to sea, waves splashing over me, suffocating waves. I was already yards out there; and if it lasted any longer, I would be dead. My dad hurried and grabbed his wooden-carved surf board then jumped into the sea. I gasped out for air as I spinned in the waves that was moving in circles, not realizing I was stuck in the middle of a whirlpool._

"_Hang in there Bolt! I'm coming to save you!" he reassured me, but I couldn't stop panicking. Every time I was able to breathe, water quickly washed over me. I was a goner. My eyes could hardly stay open, and I saw water flush into my eyes and out. Suddenly, my dad appeared out of the corner of my eye, I could live! He grabbed me with his tail and rushed me on board, then started to surf back. The waves were huge and almost drowned us, but my dad swiftly dodged the waves._

_We made it to shore and he hurried and put me inside our only home. My mom picked me up and tried to help my dad, but he fell from a huge wave that carried him from wet sand to water. He grabbed onto a piece of coral, hanging on for his life. He screamed out his last words, to me._

"_Son, you'll have to be the man of the family, take care of your mom, and live. You are a prodi-"_

_Then he got sucked into the sea. His surfboard broke on the soaking sand and he slowly drowned, before a giant Pokémon rose out of the sea and jumped back in, causing a tidal wave! My mom ran with me in her hands to the crossroads then up to Wigglytuff's guild since it was on a cliff. Everybody in town ran to the guild to save their lives and the entire town of Treasure town got flooded and we all had to rebuild the town. It took about a year to rebuild it, but Treasure town was restored, but the memory scars me for life._

_**End of Flashback**_

"Hey sis, what's shakin' bacon?" I asked as soon as I walked into the room, ready to support her if she starts to cry since she is very emotional.

"Don't say it like that, it sounds like you're hitting on me," she answered. I sighed.

"You know I can't, I'm like a party animal and I always have to act like a chimchar who has to fight for the right to party!"

"Shut up, why do you have to talk like that?"

"Cool it gal."

"Hey, what are you even doing in my room?"

"Um, because it's my room too, duh."

"Then why are you bugging me?"

"I just came to talk to you, and that our peep is baking us some apple pie with apples I bought today with money I earned."

"Oh yeah, Mom's pies are the best!" she exclaimed. "Question, why do you call our mom a peep, she is not a 'peep', she is our mom, appreciate it."

"It's the only time I can be me, I work and help all day and I expect to lie around, be myself, and rest."

"Those reasons all sound like the same thing, and you sound like what Dad used to be like." We fell into an awkward silence. I was very emotional when we talked about dad; the event when he got washed out to sea has scarred me for life.

"The pie is ready! Bolt, Shockers, come over here and enjoy!" our mom's voice echoed into the room, breaking the silence. I ran to the door and yelled back,

"I'm going to eat it all before you even get there!" She ran after me. I ran through the entryway that separated the kitchen from the bedroom as Shockers came in from behind me.

"Yes, time to eat!"

"Don't let him eat it all!"

"It's alright; I made one for each of us. We had three apples so we have three apple pies, and used the big apple for applesauce in our only bowl for the left over Oran berries from yesterday."

_*Weeks later*_

"Yeah, now watch this move!" I told the people watching my performance. I did a triple flip in the air then landed on my left arm, then spun in circles like a basketball on someone's finger. Applause surrounded the area.

"Okay guys, that is enough dancing for today, I'll be back tomorrow, peace!" I gave out a peace single with my mouse-like fingers. Everybody left and l counted the Poké. There was 147 Poké in the baseball cap, which meant I haven't done that good, and will only be able to get a few berries.

"Um excuse me, can you give me a second?" someone said from behind me. I turned my head to see a vulpix with a torn ear and a scar on his knee; he also looked really beaten up. What did he want?

"I've been around town lately and heard that a pikachu named Bolt helped many Pokémon, are you him?" I noticed this vulpix had a weary look in his eye, and he had a limp in his step.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. How had this Pokémon gotten so hurt?

"I need your help."


	2. Forming a Team

** Inferno: Sorry we're late everybody!**

** Bolt: Yeah, you had to stop to get red gummis and lead us into a trap in the Steam cave.**

** Inferno: Did you really have to say that out loud Bolt?**

** Bolt: Yes, yes I did.**

** Me: Stop arguing guys, but you did miss the first chapter of your story and you're holding everybody from reading the second one.**

** Inferno: Spoiler alert! We battle- [Bolt electrocutes Inferno and Inferno gets knocked out]**

** Bolt: There Shadow Snivy, now get onto the story, dog.**

** Me: Thanks Bolt, but I'm not a dog, I'm a snake.**

** Bolt: Since when do snakes have feet? [I use my shadow claw attack on Bolt and make him faint]**

** Me: Now on with the story!**

**Inferno's view**

"What do you need help with man?" the pikachu who I now know is called Bolt asked. I could hardly stay conscious with all the wounds I had

"It's quite a long story," I revealed.

"Then no time for talk, it's getting late, let's head to my crib and chill out while you explain your tale," he interrupted. Did he really have to talk like that?

"Well sure, let's go," I decided as he walked down toward a bridge. I thought that maybe his house was better than my parents, so I eagerly followed him across the bridge. When I looked off to the side, I noticed this bridge went across a wide crevice. I gulped, not seeing the bottom. I quickly limped off the bridge.

I turned a corner and saw the grassy road turn into hot sand, sand that tickled my paws with each step. This sand was soft unlike the gritty sand all the way in the desert. It was hard not to giggle from it but I had to hold it in to try not to embarrass myself, with the dignity I had left. Bolt walked over to a pile of huge rocks which was close to a cave. The cave looked like a mystery dungeon, considering how big it was.

The scenery was amazing. It was sunset, the first one I have ever seen in a long time. Back in the desert, the sun sets so oddly. The sunset back in that desert made the sky seem gray, as if a storm was coming but it never rains. The scene of a real sunset looked so beautiful. Anyways, several krabby were lounging on rocks, and they started to blow bubbles that gleamed in the sunlight, improving the scene. The whole sky seemed to glitter and flash into my eyes; a scenery I would never forget.

"Here we are," Bolt announced, but I didn't see anything but this amazing scenery.

"Yeah but, where is it?" I asked while being a bit distracted as a bubble passed in front of my muzzle.

"Right here," he responded, again pointing at the rocks. The bubble popped in my face.

"I don't see it," I complained, making him sigh as I rubbed the water out of my eye.

"It is right here!" he once again pointed at the rocks. Was it in a rock?

"Where?"

"Between these rocks!" he screamed. I walked next to him with the limp and saw a pile of bricks and seaweed between the tight spaces. It was propped up with rocks and it looked like a big train wreck; a pile of rubble. I cocked my head to one side, confused.

"So, this is it?" I asked.

"Yeah, why you ask? You must be new to Treasure Town, since anyone would know that my family is the poorest in the whole area."

That made me groan, the hopes of me having a nice place to sleep instantly shattering.

"What, what are you groaning for?" Bolt asked in an irritated voice, with him tapping his foot angrily.

"Oh nothing, I just forgot why," I answered swiftly, but his expression told me he could tell it was a lie and he was disappointed in me or something.

"Come on inside, dude," he said in a deep tone. I decided to act ashamed as I walked in since he clearly knew I offended his home. I had my head lowered in fake guilt, my tail drooping as well in the act.

As I entered, I saw the place was a real dump. There wasn't even a table, just a sheet of marble on the floor and a messed up but cool cabinet in one room, and a worn out mattress in the other.

"So where do I explain-" I started till Bolt yelled,

"Hey homies, I got us a little house guest, but not permanent! And I'm sure you're chill with it!" I sat down on the sandy floor. Two raichus entered this room and they started to argue with Bolt in the conversation. I listened, half conscious, as they all reached a decision that if I stayed, I would have to sleep next to the mattress and only get fed if I help out with money and food problems. At the time, I wish I would just have gone to my uncles instead of leaving on this stupid trip.

"Okay, uh, little fox. Tell me the details at sunrise, okay bro? Also tell me your name tomorrow too," Bolt said drowsily, but before I could object, he slowly walked into the room that I guessed was the bedroom. He fell down on it and he seemed to fall asleep immediately with the other two raichus, snoring. Bro, why did he call me bro, we weren't even related, but I dropped the thought because after that long adventure, I was exhausted. I collapsed from exhaustion next to the roughed up mattress, quickly dozing off into slumber.

**Bolt's view**

_The next morning_

"Ah!" I screamed as I woke up from my nap, breathing out of control like I was just held underwater. I had such a terrible nightmare. It was when I found a vulpix all beaten up and I helped him, but he turned his back on me and I got sucked into quicksand. I got off the smelly mattress and looked around the room. My sis, aka Shockers, and my peep wasn't there, only that vulpix that… ah! Oh yeah, part of my dream was true after all. The vulpix was snoring on top of the mattress, so I expected that he got up and moved on the mattress in the middle of the night. I started to think if that last part of the dream would be true, but then I dropped the dream from my skull for a bit to look for my family, so I walked into the kitchen and I expected there to be one peep and an annoying sister, but the room was empty. Where were they, in Treasure town?

Well while I was in there, I decided to get the big bowl that we used for stuff and walked outside and over to the sea, careful not to get too close, and filled the bowl with the salty water. I carried it back inside my crib, making sure not to spill the water all over the place while I walked, and dumped it out all over the little fox. He literally jumped out of bed and looked like he was in attack position, soaked in water. He relaxed when he noticed I did it, but his face than turned redder than a Cheri berry.

"Why'd you do that?!" he yelled at me in anger.

"Don't sleep on the mattress; I made it clearer than glass yesterday, pup," I replied.

"Don't call me a pup you nitwit!" he yelled, hurting my feelings a bit.

"Yo, don't go stabbing my heart… bro, which is just messed up!" I said, almost saying pup again but I realized he must hate that word. This vulpix, this vulpix right here, was seriously uptight.

"Well sorry, but throwing water on a fire-types head is even more messed up!" the fox cried out, still in his attack position.

"Well I'm sorry for that; it was just what you call a unique way of waking someone. I do it all the time with Shockers, my sister," I told him, but then he seemed to snicker. Then it turned into to chuckles, than little laughs, than he just bursted out laughing, which was starting to freak me out. I took a step back and raised an eyebrow, seriously confused.

"What are you doing bro?" I asked as he rolled on the floor in a laughing frenzy. He then got of his rolling position, sat down, and said in a cheery voice,

"Ha, I was pulling your leg dude! My brothers did that prank to me all the time to wake me up when I was little! I was acting everything out!" I started to feel a little agitated.

"How dare you do that to me, you scared me when you just bursted out laughing like that! For a sec I thought you were mentally ill!" I screamed in rage.

"Oh sorry man, I didn't mean to-" he started when I interrupted and said,

"Gotcha dude." Than we both started to laugh a bit but settled down. That was a funny moment, and I kind of liked this kid.

"So do you like being called pup?" I asked.

"No, I used to be called that by my little brothers before they found out the worst name, Slowbro," he explained.

"So what is your real name, hehe, Slowbro?" I teased.

"Shut up! And it is Inferno, thank you very much," he answered with a smug face.

"Okay, now hurry up and explain that tale of yours."

"Fine, it all started when I left-"

"Spare the details; just throw my ears the short script!" I interrupted.

"What does that even mean?"

"Just tell me the short version, I don't think I could've made it any clearer than that." Inferno rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so I basically left my home and decided to follow my dream and to make my own exploration team, but got real injured on the way and ended up coming here all bruised. I heard about you and how you're super nice so I came and found you," he explained.

"Wow, and how did you get that nasty scar on your knee and that torn ear during the journey?" I asked, a bit freaked out at how jacked up he was.

"I was born with the scar and the torn ear was from something with my brothers.

"Wow, well I have a scar too, just like that one," I admitted. I don't like talking about it at all, but I trusted Inferno. I turned around and flashed out my tail to reveal the small scar. The scar was shaped like a lightning bolt and it was a bright yellow, with it occasionally glowing like lightning from a storm.

"Whoa, we both have scars that look the same but glow differently. What a coincidence," Inferno told. I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know," I agreed while I turned my tail back around to hide the scar.

"You know what, this is the first time I saw you not talk like a hip hop person for a bit," Inferno brought up.

"Oh, I mean, well that is just weird brother, now any other unnatural news that you have been keeping sealed up?" I asked, talking like my usual self again.

"You're not wearing your blue baseball cap," he informed me. I felt the top of my head with my paws. All I felt was my ruffled up fur, not that leather blue baseball cap. I forgot to put it on this morning, no wait, I collapsed on my mattress while I was still wearing it, and it must have fallen off.

"Oh, um, excuse me, I'm getting my cap," I explained as I excused myself. I looked around in the other room and I saw that it wasn't in my eyesight. Then again, I also didn't see it while I was looking for Shockers and my peep either. I lifted the mattress to see if it fell under somehow. It was a tussle to lift it since it was heavy with it being soaked up with water. The hat wasn't under there either. Did Shockers take it when I was sleeping? Well she does do it sometimes, so she must have it. I walked back into the kitchen and Inferno that Shocker must have it and that she's probably in Treasure town.

"Okay, let's go get her," Inferno offered. Inferno decided to go because the mattress was making the air smell terrible, something like smelly cheese is rotting in the sun next to garbage cans filled with rotten berries that was left in hot sun for a week or something like that. I ran out with Inferno and I saw that it wasn't morning, but halfway through the day since the sun was in the middle of the sky. I had about an hour till I start dancing at the crossroads, if I'd done my math correctly.

"Come on Inferno, let's go find my family," I exclaimed as I ran across the sand on all fours, hearing the sound of sand being flung into the wind by Inferno and I. I watched slowly as the sandy terrain transformed into the grassland roads that connect the beach and the crossroads. Then the scenery shifted to the wooden logs of the bridge above the deep crevice, and then onto the solid dirt at the crossroads till I bumped into a raichu. The raichu was Shockers, but she didn't have my hat.

"Hey sis, at least wake me before going out," I scolded.

"Um, who are you, because I'm pretty sure that I'm not your sister," she scolded back in a deeper tone than Shockers regular voice. I backed up and stood on my hind legs to get a closer look, and I saw that the raichu who I thought was Shockers was actually a different raichu, since this one's left ear was bended.

"Oh, real sorry ma'am, I thought you were someone else. After all, we all look the same, don't we?" I apologized.

"Who are you calling a ma'am? I'm a guy!" he screamed at me.

"Oh, so, so, so, so, sorry dude!" I apologized.

"Don't worry; I heard that many people make that mistake with Pokémon all the time. It's nothing that offensive," he told me with a smug expression.

"Um, so what's your name anyway mister?" Inferno blurted out from behind me. Some reason, the raichu looked very shocked when he also saw Inferno with me, but I shrugged it off.

"Mine, well it is, uh, um, Dark…rai…chu," he answered mysteriously.

"Dark Raichu, that is such a weird name," Inferno rudely stated before I Charlie-horsed him in the arm, since we should stop offending Dark Raichu.

"Um, yes, Dark Raichu is the name. But nah, he is right, the name is goofy. I don't…" Dark raichu hesitated. "…like it either. It's a dumb name too."

"Well sorry for the confusion, we'll be going now. If you want to see me again, you should just ask someone where a pikachu named Bolt is at around here, they'll know," I explained before walking into town, but Inferno didn't walk with me and was standing in his spot, glaring, so I went back and started pushing Inferno into town. As soon as we were in town and out of sight, I yanked him behind a bush.

"Really, you have to offend Dark raichu and then glare at him and refuse to move? What's wrong with you?!" I yelled.

"Dude, something is wrong with that guy, I know it; I feel it in my gut," Inferno complained back, but it was just an excuse.

"I'm serious; don't making excuses!"

"I'm not making it up!"

"Um, who's in there?" I heard from the other side of the bush. I turned my head around to see who I was hoping to be Shockers, but it was Bidoof, from the guild. Bidoof is like a gopher that is brown with two huge buck teeth and he likes to devour everything. He was probably storing money at the Duskull Bank and heard us. When I got out from behind the bush, I realized that I pushed Inferno so far that we ducked at the bush on Sharpedo's Bluff, the one that covers the entrance to the legendary Team Flash's team base. Well that makes sense; there aren't any bushes in Treasure town anyway. I quickly pulled myself and Inferno out, scared that we could disturb Team Flash, and that wouldn't be good.

"Hey Bidoof, how's your training?" I asked, acting casual.

"Better than usual; I'm getting more job requests than errands and… wait a minute, you can't fool me! Why are you back here with a… vulpix?!" Bidoof stammered.

"Uh, you are getting better at not getting fooled, how do you practice that?"

"Stop dodging my question; tell me why you're back here!" Bidoof demanded. I sighed.

"Just tell him Bolt!" Inferno screamed from behind my back. "This is just stupid."

"Fine," I promised. "Inferno, which is this vulpix, offended a random raichu off the street and then didn't apologize, but glared at him, so I was scolding him."

"Ugh, don't say it like that!" Inferno yelled.

"Well I just saw you running through the streets while pushing this fire fox over here and it caused such a scene; I think everyone in Treasure town was watching you, and that's a lot since everybody was waiting here for you to dance. We also thought it was weird that you were walking around without your hat," Bidoof explained to us. "You looked so mean!"

"Really, well we were looking around for Shockers and my peep, or Shockers' mother, earlier, have you seen any of them today?" I questioned.

"No, and I know that because I was walking around all day searching for my lost reviver seed. I still haven't found. Also… you should just call her your mom instead of your peep or whatever."

_Really, then where are they, _I thought. I then told Bidoof, "Thanks for the info homie, but please tell everyone that there won't be any smooth dancing today, and you're cool with it, ain't I right?"

"Um, sure, if you're saying you're not dancing today and you want me to tell the others."

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Okay, I'll go spread the word!" Bidoof screamed at me as he ran back into Treasure town. Soon, Bidoof was out of sight.

"Man, this is messed up, the only pieces of my family disappeared yo, what should we do?" I asked, worried. He didn't answer. "Um, Inferno, what's up bro?" I asked as I turned around to face him, but to my surprise, he fainted and remained there, covered in his bruises. The damage from that long journey must have been getting worst, either that or he fainted from hunger since we didn't feed him last night. Either way, I had to help him; he did come to me for help after all. I hurried and hid him behind the same bush that we hid behind earlier and ran over to the Kecleon market.

The Kecleon market was as colorful as always as I ran up to see it. Both of the Kecleon brothers stood on the platform to be aware of customers under the Kecleon head that was built on top of the store. As I approached, I saw the goodies of orbs, TM's, and fresh supplies stocked on the shelves that stood behind them. Seeing the seeds lit a fire of hope in my stomach.

The Kecleon brothers looked as healthy as ever with their lizard-like bodies. The green one who sold stuff like apples stood in his usual spot on the left side of the platform of the stand as the purple one stood in his usual spot on the right side of the platform of the stand. They stood there with their red, zigzag stripes on their bellies and their wicked smile, which mislead newcomers to thinking the Kecleon brothers were creepy Pokémon.

"Misters Kecleon, do you have any Oran berries and reviver seeds in stock today," I asked them quickly. The green Kecleon turned around and searched the shelves than looked back at me.

"Ah, yes, we do have three Oran berries, but no reviver seeds, just sleep and stun seeds today," the green Kecleon answered with happiness but the scent of sadness in his voice to show he cares.

"Oh, well I'll buy all the Oran berries," I stated, but I knew Inferno will stay fainted till I got him the reviver seed he needed. I grabbed the Poké that I held onto from yesterday and gave it to the green Kecleon. The green Kecleon used his tongue to grab the two berries on a bottom shelf and the last one on a high shelf. Soon the three bluish berries were in his tiny grip.

He handed me the Oran berries, feeling the scaly skin of his arms and the slobber of his spit on the berries touching, his saliva partly on my ruffled up yellow pelt and he started, "Thank you-"

"Keep the change!" I yelled as I ran over to the Kangaskhan storage, west of the Kecleon market. I had a new, brilliant idea that flashed into my mind seconds earlier.

As I approached the Kangaskhan storage, I saw the usual brown stand made out of rock and stone with the carved Kangaskhan head on top. The storage was way bigger than all the other stores in Treasure town since deep inside held all the supplies of fellow explorers in piles, such as piles of Oran Berries and apples. As I walked up, I saw the usual, female Pokémon standing on the rough platform that she always stood on, giving smiles to everyone.

Kangaskhan looked as cheerful as she always is every day with her usual rocky brown skin, stubby feet, dino shaped body, and her small baby that hangs out in a pouch on her tan belly.

"Hey Kangaskhan, do I have any reviver seeds in my storage account?!" I yelled in desperation as I set down the wet berries on the counter.

"Hmm, let me check," she answered as she grabbed a notepad out of her pouch. In her notepad, she records what every customer has in her storage and they take out what they need. She flipped her claws through notebook till she stopped and exclaimed, "Ah, here we are, Bolt the pikachu, let me check, hmm, ah yes, you have two!"

"Oh, thank Arceus," I whispered to myself, and then yapped, "Okay, I need to take out one reviver seed, fast ma'am."

"Got it, but what's the rush?" she asked as she put the notepad back into her pouch.

"Sorry, I have a friend that really needs it, he blacked out," I explained to her before she left to go into the back and fetch the item.

"Here you go," she said as she came back and held the seed out to me. I grabbed it, right after I rubbed the rest of the spit off my arm. I quickly grabbed the smooth seed while feeling the bumpy skin of Kangaskhan. I thanked her as I picked up the Oran berries with the seed and ran back to Sharpedo's Bluff, struggling with four items in my arms, to Inferno after the shopping spree. I quickly pulled Inferno out from the undisturbed bush and plopped the seed into his mouth. The seed glowed, dissolved, then Inferno's eyes opened and he sat up.

"Ugh, what happened?" he asked. I explained what happened to him as he slowly ate the Oran berries I bought for him.

"You know what, we make a good team," he mentioned. Wait, maybe…

"Hey Inferno, tell me why you came here again," I demanded.

"I wanted to start my own exploration team, why?" he asked.

"Well, do you want to start…"I hesitated while talking. Hopefully, he would say yes. "…an exploration team with me?"

"Sure, I didn't know you wanted to be in one," he answered, and I felt a new sense of energy from his answer.

"I have dreamed to be in one, ever sense when I was little. I've always wanted to investigate these mysterious currents in the ocean, and now that my family is missing too, I need to be in one more than ever."

"Well it's a deal, bro."

"Yes it is." We high fived our paws together to show that we will become the best of partners for our new exploration team.

"So let's head to the guild on the cliff and sign up, yo!" I exclaimed.

"Sure, let's go now!" Inferno yelled in a cheerful voice. We headed through Treasure town, took the path at the crossroads up to the guild, and walked up the cliff to the grate in front the guild. The place had the shape of Wigglytuff's head on it with some iron bars blocking the entrance.

**Inferno's view**

I've been waiting for this moment my whole life, and it was happening! I was joining an exploration team! When I was here earlier, they said that I had to have a team mate or battle the whole guild to be on my own, but about ten-on-one isn't that wise of a choice, so I left to search for a team mate, but I didn't expect Bolt to be my partner. I stepped on the grate and waited to hear the words that I heard earlier.

"_Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"_

_ "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"_

_ "The footprint is vulpix's! The footprint is vulpix's!"_

_ "Okay, now I know some other STRANGER is up there. GET his feet ON the grate!"_

I knew that when they meant some stranger, they meant Bolt. I stepped of the grate and looked at Bolt, but he looked surprised and also scared from the voice.

"Come on Bolt, it's easy," I assured which made him look a little less tense. He got off his all four position that he was still in from running and he stepped on the gate, shivering.

_"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"_

_ "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"_

_ "The footprint is… um… maybe pikachu's! Maybe pikachu's!"_

_ "What, MAYBE?"_

_ "Sorry, this is the first time I ever saw this footprint Loudred! It's similar to a Pichu and Raichu's so I'm guessing!"_

Were they arguing? Well, Bolt seemed more relaxed than earlier at least.

"Inferno, are they arguing?" he asked me. Before I could answer, a voice called out.

_"WELL, since we DON'T see lots OF pikachu AROUND these parts, WE need an EXPLANATION why YOU'RE here!" _a voice yelled, hurting my eardrums.

"We're here to… JOIN A RESCUE TEAM… dude," Bolt screamed. I think he went deaf for a few seconds or something.

"_Sorry for making you wait! YOU don't seem THAT bad, and SINCE you're here to MAKE your own RESCUE team, WE'LL let YOU in!" _the voice yelled. To my surprise, this time the iron bars lifted, showing the entrance. Last time I was asked through the grate why I was by myself and my decision for the exploration team. The gates opened with a creaking sound and it seemed to shake the cliff, but it probably was just the ground where I was standing. When the gate was fully open, I walked in first with Bolt following in behind me.

When I entered, I saw some kind of yellow stick with shorter sticks on it, looking a bit like stiches. Wait, it was a wooden, yellow ladder! It led down, deeper in the side of the cliff. I looked down to see a bigger floor beneath.

"Whoa, it's a ladder, should we head down?" Bolt asked, obvious that he seen a ladder before. I nodded, and I headed down after Bolt, but it was a bad idea. Bolt may have had fingers on his paws, but I didn't, so it was really hard to hold on the ledges. Then I lost my grip and fell halfway down the ladder, and Bolt was still on it, so when I fell down, I fell on Bolt and made him come down with me. When we both hit the ground, we made dust spring up and get into our eyes. When the dust faded, I didn't see Bolt.

"Bolt, where are you?" I asked.

"Down here."

"Down where?"

"I'm under you fire fox!" he yelled. Looking down, I noticed that under me was Bolt, and he was on his back. The landing must have been worst for him since I was cushioned.

"Oh, sorry Bolt, I slipped and fell," I apologized.

"Yeah, you fell, on me!" he yelled angrily.

"Hey, I said sorry."

"Um, shouldn't you get off of me now?" he asked, irritated.

"Oh, sorry, yeah," I apologized once more before I tried to get off, but then someone yelled,

"Yeah, dog pile!" I felt something jump on me and I was forced back down. I turned my head and forced my eyes to look up as much as possible and I saw a dog-like Pokémon. His ears pointed up, had fluffy yet stingy, mostly gray hair with black fur on his paws, belly, and face. He had yellow eyes with a red iris, a silky tail, and an under bite so sharp teeth were sticking out of his jaw. I knew what Pokémon it was because we almost adopted one, it was a poochyena. I tried to push him off my back but I was forced back down. While I was still down, I felt more weight gather on top, knocking the breath out of me. I tried to look up but my head was pinned down, and so were my paws and six tails. I tried again and looked up as much as my eyes would let me and saw two other poochyenas. They barked and wagged their tails while one kept whacking my head with his tail.

"Um, Inferno?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping me, and you are about five times as heavy now!"

"SQUAWK! Get off, get off, you're blocking the ladders!" I heard some annoying, high pitched voice say. I heard some whimpering but the poochyenas finally got off of us. I quickly got off Bolt, and then he got up and quickly dusted himself off.

"Are you okay Bolt?" I asked.

"Do I look okay?"

"Um, yes."

"Well maybe you should have stayed in school, because I'm not okay dude, about three-hundred pounds was crushing me!"

"Okay, what's the bright idea of coming down here, no goofing or loitering, or secret agents!" a bird-like Pokémon squealed in the same high pitched voice as earlier.

The bird Pokémon was colorful from the neck down, and his neck was covered with a fluffy looking collar. His chest was yellow, his belly was green, and his wings were blue. He had a black, musical note shaped head that had a pink beak and oval eyes, yellow talons, and a black tail that looked like a spike with a circle stuck on it.

"It didn't say no goofing on the sign upstairs," Bolt informed.

"There doesn't need to be a sign for no goofing around," he scolded Bolt.

"So you are the person that has the annoying, high voice," I accidently blurted out, and then I quickly covered my mouth with my right paw.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, he said that you are the guy with the awesome hairdo," Bolt cleverly covered up. "Right Inferno?"

"Mm Hm," I replied, my paw still muffling my mouth. I nodded for assurance.

"Oh really, well this musical note those look charming," he squawked while rubbing his head with a blue wing.

"Nice call," I whispered to Bolt.

"Thanks, now you owe me two freebies," he whispered back.

"What do you mean?" I asked in a whisper.

"You owe me a favor for falling on me and one for me saving you a long lecture just now," he explained, making me feel relieved that a freebie wasn't anything like a drink or any food, because I was washed out with food.

"So my name is Chatot, I'm the Wikipedia of these parts, who are you and why are you here?" Chatot asked us after admiring himself. I thought if he was the Wikipedia of these parts, he wouldn't fall for Bolt's trick.

"We're here to become an exploration team…" I started.

"…and train here at this guild," Bolt finished.

"Well why didn't you say that up front earlier?" he asked.

"Um, we did," Bolt told him.

"Well say it louder than when you yell it down," Chatot scolded us.

"Um… we did, Bolt actually screamed the words 'join a rescue team', and I think the whole guild heard it," I explained.

"I did?" Bolt asked. I nodded to let him know.

"Well yell louder," he tried to counter, showing Chatot was stubborn enough not to allow himself to look like a fool, in any possible circumstance. I decided not to argue because he wouldn't give up without a long chat, and Bolt must have noticed that too.

"Sorry, we'll do it next time."

"Well you better, now come with me, we'll sign you up," Chatot remarked before he flew down another hole that had a wooden ladder. Not again!

As I walked over to the ladder, Bolt made me go down first, and luckily I didn't slip again. We stood in front of two yellow doors with a pink imprint of a Wigglytuff's head. Chatot knocked on the door with his left talon.

"Guildmaster, I'm coming in!" Chatot warned, and then he flew up in the air and pushed the doors open with his talons. We walked in, Bolt looking a bit skeptical.

The floor was covered with grass. There was a pinkish rug in the far back on the ground with a treasure chest on each side, and two statues of bowls with logs in it. Behind the rug was a bigger rug pinned on the wall with Wigglytuff's face stitched in, and a vine hanging in front of it. There were two windows and grass patches keeping other tiny rugs of Wigglytuff's face up. In the back on that pinkish rug was who I assumed was Wigglytuff, who looked like a pink balloon with arms, legs, and rabbit ears. He was turned away from us and staring at the wall.

"Guildmaster, we have two Pokémon-" Chatot started till Wigglytuff turned around to face us.

"An exploration team, aka, a rescue team? I know, I heard all the yelling upstairs and outside from here," he exclaimed.

"Told you that everyone heard Bolt," I bloated in front of Chatot. For a second I thought I heard him growl a bit. Ha! I wagged my six tails in triumph.

"Okay, time to sign you up, but first, I need to know the leader and the team name," Wigglytuff exclaimed happily.

"Wow, I haven't thought about that," Bolt told me.

"Me either," I admitted as well.

"Well here's an idea, have a battle and whoever wins is the leader and figure out the team name part later," Chatot offered, back in a happy mood again.

"Great idea Chatot," I complimented.

"Okay, what about in Beach Cave, me and Wigglytuff will block the other Pokémon from interrupting your battle and whoever wins is the leader, and let's say they decide the team name also, shall we?" Chatot suggested. It was half way through the day, so we had about eight to twelve hours for a battle, but who knows how long it'll be in a mystery dungeon.

We all agreed to the idea and left for Beach Cave as a team. We ran pass the crossroads and across the sandy beach, the sun starting to set. We entered the cave that I knew was a mystery dungeon from earlier. When we reached a room in the dungeon with no water for Pokémon to hide in and only two ways out, we stopped as Wigglytuff blocked one way and Chatot blocked the other way. Bolt and I got into our attacking positions.

"Okay, I'll be your judge," Wigglytuff started. "The battle is over when… hold on." Wigglytuff turned around and used Double slap in a kabuto's face and he fainted before he turned back around. "It'll be over when one of you two is unable to battle. Some items may be thrown in and the game could be changed to get a different result. Ready…"

"You're going down Inferno, but no hard feelings," Bolt teased.

"Set…" the balloon-like Pokémon continued.

"I passed seven grades in school if you include kindergarten. I know everything about attacks and strategy that'll help me win," I teased back.

"Go!" Wigglytuff announced as me and my partner leaped at each other in fiery battle.


	3. Battle for the Leader

**Me: Well, we better get to the next chapter before Bolt or Inferno wakes up-**

** Bolt: [Bolt is up and he is eating an Oran berry] are you crazy!?**

** Me: No, I hate being insulted, there is a huge difference.**

** Bolt: Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to overreact and attack me!**

** Inferno: Yeah that's right!**

** Bolt: Inferno, when did you get up?**

** Inferno: Ever since I ate a reviver seed while I was asleep by accident.**

** Bolt: How is that possible, eating while you're passed out?**

** Inferno: Hey, you did it, didn't you?**

**Me: Hey Inferno, can you explain to everyone who Team Flash is?**

**Inferno: Yes, Team Flash is a rescue team of a Shinx and a Vulpix that saved the world twice from Darkrai's plots and they graduated at the guild. Also-**

**Bolt: Such a random topic…**

**Me: On with the story!**

**Inferno: Hey, wait, I'm not finished yet!**

**Bolt's view**

As Inferno charged at me with a Quick Attack in the cave, I wouldn't give up a chance of being a leader so easily. I taunted Inferno by not moving till he was only feet way, then I jumped over him with amazing speed. I landed swiftly, and turned around to face Inferno. I saw he couldn't stop in time and he rammed himself into the cave wall, falling limp to the sandy ground. Wait, was he passed out already? That shouldn't have been it, so I slowly approached him on the ground.

"Inferno did you faint, bro," I asked stupidly. He didn't answer so I leaned in closer till I realized my mistake. Inferno was faking as I saw his eyes open up and a Fire Blast started, but since I was so close, it exploded in front of me before it was even was fully made, so Inferno was hurt too, but not as much as me. The impact blasted me up into the air and I hit the rocky ceiling of the cave, and then fell back to the sand with the thud.

I quickly jumped up on my feet as I prepared a signature attack I saw a grotle do with an energy ball one time. I prepared an Electro Ball, and instead of firing it, I swallowed it instead. Almost immediately, my tail and back lit up with blasts of electricity. My scar on my tail also was glowing more than ever and it released blue electricity.

"Whoa," Inferno reacted, amazed, but while he was distracted, I charged up a Volt Tackle and dashed toward Inferno, ramming him in the right side. He was almost sent flying into Chatot, but he hit the wall instead. He fell to the ground but he landed on his paws.

"Be careful and hurry up with this battle!" Chatot complained as Inferno slowly moved away from the parrot and got back in fighting position. Before Inferno lunged himself at me, Wigglytuff yelled,

"Time to change the game, now let's play Item Scavenger!" Before Inferno or I could object or react, Wigglytuff thrown in several items, then Chatot got out of his way and suddenly ten shellder stormed in and started to charge at the items. Item Scavenger must been that we get items or something, but Wigglytuff was making this serious battle into a kiddy game, and it was purely unbelievable. Inferno seemed to like it quite nicely because he had three Oran berries gathered in his paws already. I saw three shellder closing in on a Sitrus berry that was near a cave wall, so I jumped in and used Iron Tail on one, sending it over Chatot's head. Then while one almost clamped the berry in half, I whacked it with my electrified tail, sending shock waves through his body till he passed out. The last one jumped at me and bit my paw, but I Thunder Punched him into the wall, sending him down to the ground, then I hurried and picked up the Sitrus berry.

I thought I saw two seeds that a… kabuto was closing in on? I thought only shellder entered the arena. I looked over at Wigglytuff and Chatot to see both paths were un-blocked and that other Pokémon of the dungeon were storming in. I saw a Max Elixir and two Oran berries, plus the seeds. I saw three shellos, two kabuto, one shellder, and Inferno closing in on some supplies, while a shellder already clamped up on an Oran berry and was starting to gobble it up. I took a bite of my Sitrus berry and dashed in at the seed pile.

The kabuto closing in on the seeds clamped one in half, making it loose part of its affects, but before he could have done anything else, I used Thunder Punch, and I smacked the kabuto hard. I scooped up the only unharmed seed. I noticed that the shellder and the three shellos were knocked out. So only another shellder, Inferno, and two kabuto were left, so I hurried and ate almost all of what was left of my Sitrus berry. I grabbed the remaining seed that wasn't damaged before someone else stole it away from my grasp. Inferno used a Flamethrower on a kabuto and the Shellder, then he lastly Fire Spin on the remaining kabuto, but while he was battling, I scooped up an Oran berry in one piece and the Max Elixir before Inferno came charging at me, but I quickly devoured the remaining Sitrus berry and part of the Oran berry and side-stepped to the right, Inferno almost scorching me with a Flamethrower.

I heard Chatot squawk loud before I saw a blurred vision of Wigglytuff sprint around the room, and when he disappeared, there were no remaining items on the floor, and the items that were in my hands were gone as well. I turned around to see Wigglytuff with all the items. The hunt was over, and we finally could get back to some serious battling-

"Take this!" I heard Inferno's voice yell, but when I turned around, I saw a beam of fire less than a meter in front of me. I quickly dropped to the ground, the fire barely scorching the hair on the tip of my head. A small ember was planted on my head, and I patted it down with my paw urgently till it was distinguished, but I wasted too much time on that and got hit by Inferno's Quick Attack, being slammed into the wall. Now things were personal! I powered up an Electro Ball and launched it at Inferno, but he dropped to the ground and rolled to the left to dodge. Before he could recover, I hurried and ran up close and whacked him with my tail that was still charged up from eating that Electro Ball. The electrifying power was slowly getting weaker as each minute passed. We both backed against the walls opposite from each other in the room.

"Nice one," Inferno complimented.

"Nice moves yourself," I remarked, seeing that we were taking a small break, so during the time, I examined him. He wasn't breathing heavily, probably because he ate those Oran Berries I saw him with around the first part of the hunt. He was panting and had a bruise on the right side of his face where I just smashed at with my tail. Also I didn't forget that zap mark I planted in his right side from my earlier Volt Tackle. I looked at his eyes, noticing he was scanning my body from ear to tail, which meant he was examining me too. I looked at myself, seeing my scorched fur, a burnt mark on my cheek, a burnt mark on my stomach from the earlier Fire Blast, but it was nearly gone from me eating that Sitrus berry, and a small clamp mark on my arm from that Shellder. I looked back at Inferno in the eyes, and he glared back at me, so we were making stern eye contact. I narrowed my eyes, and he narrowed his eyes, and I got into attack position right before he did, and I charged at him with my Thunder Punch.

He then zoomed off to the side with his Quick Attack, doing a similar trick as I had done at the beginning of the battle, but I wouldn't be fooled by my own trick. As he moved out of the way, I nearly crashed into the cave wall, which was what I intended to do with Inferno when I did the trick. I jumped in the air and used my feet to retract and spring off the wall at a powerful speed and then I flew through the air. Since I practiced extreme dancing like flips and spinning-on-a-hand stuff, I can perfect any jumping, spinning, or bouncing-like move. I saw Inferno look up at me and I acted like it was a public performance. I spinned like the pattern of an ice cream cone and flipped at the same time and landed in front of him mockingly.

"You can't out smart this rat, can ya?" I cleverly taunted.

"Um, you just called yourself a rat," he trash-talked back, seeing that I didn't say that phrase so smartly. While I was stupid to be distracted by one of Inferno's tactics, he came up close and I saw him open his muzzle to fire out a Flamethrower. I skidded back in the sand, as I tried to stand my ground.

I then powered up an Electro Ball quickly, and sent it flying toward Inferno. He had a smug expression, distracted by his impressive tactic he had used, and he didn't realize he was being attacked till it was too late. He was sent flying back in the sand, sending a few sand clouds into the air. Inferno slowly stood up on his paws, sand ruffled up in his red-orange fur.

I quickly seized the chance with Inferno being unguarded, and sent another Electro Ball towards him. He quickly retaliated by lifting his head up and launching a Flamethrower to counter. A huge explosion took place, sending me skidding back partly. A gigantic black smoke cloud was created, blinding my sight of Inferno.

Since I lost sight of Inferno, I realized he would be confused around that point. Cleverly, I dashed through the smoke cloud, my paw cloaked in electricity for my Thunder Punch attack. I ran forward through the sand with silence, ready to surprise him. I kept running for a few seconds, when I nearly ran face-first into the cave wall. I blinked in disbelief, realizing that I either passed Inferno or he somehow moved out of the way.

Suddenly, I realized this must have been another tactic Inferno learned at his school. Quickly, I tried to get away from the wall but it was too late. Inferno popped out of the smoke surprisingly, sending a spiral of fire towards me. Being surrounded by his Fire Spin attack, the last traces of the smoke had just vanished. The special electric energy I had from eating that Electro Ball had finally worn off, leaving me feel a bit fatigued.

Small embers swirled around me in the Fire Spin attack. I was trapped, unable to dodge any attacks Inferno threw at me. Man, Inferno was clever. I was glad to have a partner like him, if he was my leader or not. Quickly, I stared out through the barricade of embers, attempting to find out where Inferno was at. No matter what I tried, I couldn't see through the fire. I tried to jump out of the Fire Spin, but the damage I had made me weak, and I was too weak to make it through, I was sent skidding back, an ember on my foot. Scared, I quickly stomped my foot till the flame went out.

I then saw a beam of fire shoot into the Fire Spin from the outside, scorching the fur on my back. It then sent me skidding into the wall of fire, and then I was thrown back into the middle and fell exhausted to the sand, the fire taking a huge toll on me. I then started to panic partly, knowing it was close to the end.

I was breathing heavily, seeing an image of black in the frame of my vision. I knew I was close to blacking out; the burns keeping me kneeled down in the heated up sand. I started to gasp for air, nearly losing all my energy.

Then I saw a lump in the sand. It was bluish, and I felt seriously confused. I crawled closer to it, curious, and pushed the sand off to the side, and then sighed with relief. There was an Oran berry and a Rawst berry in the sand. I quickly took a bite of the Rawst berry, forgetting about however the berries had gotten there. I then felt washed over with relief, several patches of my singed yellow fur growing back. I quickly gobbled down the rest of the Rawst berry, all of my burnt marks and singed fur fixed up. I sighed in relief, quickly wolfing down the Oran berry to heal my health.

I finished off the berries, feeling rejuvenated and energized once more. My head also felt a bit clearer, since I wasn't panicking that much anymore. Wigglytuff must have hidden berries all over in the sand, as some sort of game. Either that or he had forgotten to pick the berries up. Oh well, it didn't really matter, as long as I was fit for battle! I quickly stood up in battle position.

An interesting idea had come to mind, to get rid of this Fire Spin torture. I then was about to power up an Electro Ball, when I saw a shadow flicker from outside of this chamber. I'd guessed because I was so weak before, I couldn't see through the flames, but now I could. I saw Inferno, charging up another Flamethrower slowly. My eyes grew wide in shock, and then I narrowed my eyes in his direction.

"So you're gonna play it that way, bro," I whispered to myself. "Well two can play at that game." My tail then hardened up, the color of silver for my Iron Tail attack. I saw the Flamethrower rocket out of Inferno's muzzle, and I quickly used my Iron Tail as a shield. I moved my tail protectively over my face, watching cheerfully as the Flamethrower bounced off my Iron Tail, and blasted back through the Fire Spin. I couldn't see where it went after that, but I heard a cry of shock and then a wail of pain from Inferno, giving me a pretty good idea of what happened. He was probably taking a short rest, gasping from the jump scare and pain.

Thinking fast, I powered up the Electro Ball once more and aimed it at the flames. I sent it flying, distorting the Fire Spin and making the spinning embers kind of swerve. I then swiftly jumped out of the Fire Spin while it was weak, only getting slightly singed fur on the tip of my lightning bolt shaped tail. I smirked at how clever I was, knowing that things were starting to turn around for old Bolt. I quickly located where Inferno was at. The Fire Spin quickly subsided, disappearing into nothing but ashes.

Inferno was face down in the sand, curled up in a tight ball. He had several bruises and a bit of scorched fur. His curls were messed up and his six red tails were all tangled up. "Faceplant!" I yelled, amused.

Then I saw him slightly move, as if he was moving something out of the way, or slowly crawling. I decided to prepare an Iron Tail and finish it off quick. My tail shined up as it was coated and transformed into metal. I grinned, relieved that this epic battle was finally coming to an end.

Then I saw Inferno slowly get up on his four paws, a bit shakily. He turned around, a smug grin on his face. I tilted my head to the side, slightly confused, and my tail went back to normal, me stopping my Iron Tail. I then noticed something on the ground in the sand, next to Inferno. I squinted to see it, since it was really small. I then realized it was an Oran berry, with a bite taken out of it. Wait a second…

Inferno must have found an Oran berry in the sand, like when I found the Rawst and Oran berry buried in the sand when I was trapped in the Fire Spin. Dang it!

**Inferno's view**

Now being fully healed, I saw green light come off my bruises, my bad wounds evaporating away with the magic of the Oran berry. I realized it was now or never to use my signature attack, Inferno Blast Spiral. I had to do it in order to win! So swiftly I powered up the Fire Blast attack and threw the Inferno in the middle elegantly. Before it could explode in my face like past attempts, I used Quick Attack and spinned perfectly toward Bolt, but I forgot one important fact. Combusken, that brute who used to be Rosy's boyfriend from Flamo Elementary, was probably too chicken to counter or protect himself in the blaster room, but Bolt was different.

I could hardly see through the layer of flames but the giant bolt of electricity heading towards me shined through. The flames acted as a shield for me but as the power hit, but the electricity slowly pushed through like pouring water through a sponge. With the burn of the heat and electricity, the lightning scorched my body and not only that, but I felt stunned in the blast of heat, paralyzed. I tried to move around but it was a one in a millionth chance that it would have worked with the lack of speed.

I then realized there was one last irrefutable fact, the lightning made the attack unstable since one little glitch would mess the whole move up, and the power of Bolt's attack literally made exploding results, with flying colors. The spiral lost speed and the attack exploded around me. I swear that my ears got pierced and all I heard was a buzzing sound for a few second but my ears recovered fast. The explosion sent me flying backwards toward a cave wall, and I couldn't see through the nuclear power created from the explosion. I felt the powerful heat, and I could hardly stay conscious. When it finally settled down, I saw the results of the power and I fell to my side on the sandy surface which was now covered in ash.

I saw Bolt on the ground, but still conscious. Chatot was face down in front of Wigglytuff, fainted, with Wigglytuff behind both of them. What probably happened was that Chatot protected Wigglytuff at the last second. I one time heard a rumor that Chatot protected Wigglytuff from a group of villains in a place called Brine Cave, twice. Anyways, the room and everybody were covered in ash except part of Wigglytuff that was most likely blocked from Chatot, exposing tan fur in the shape of a wing mark on Wigglytuff. The wing mark stood out quite nicely and seemed to attract my eyes attention.

From that moment, I could tell a lot about the area. Bolt was really tough, Chatot was very weak, Wigglytuff could stand my attack with some help, and I had to work on my move. I could barely get up on my four paws, but I shakily climbed up on all fours. I felt drips of sweat inch down my neck with the shaking motion of my legs, forcing me to struggle to stay awake. Blackness was surrounding the frame of my vision. I felt my body shiver as I saw my surroundings. Bolt was like me too, on all fours with sweat dripping off his dull, charcoal covered fur. He shivered in the humid air as I watched his every move, hoping he would fall down first.

After what felt like hours which was actually only a few minutes told me that standing there wasn't going to end the battle, so I took a small step forward, making my leg bend down, making me nearly collapse breathless on the sand, but I stubbornly used most of my strength to keep myself up. I watched Bolt to see the next move take place, and the same thing happened to him, like I was watching myself in a mirror except I was a pikachu.

We slowly approached each other till we were muzzle to muzzle, and then we made eye contact as best as it was possible in the conditions given. I stared into Bolt's black coal eyes to see what he was thinking, which I could tell was, "_We have to end this, and we tackle on three."_

I looked harder into his eyes, and asked, just in case, "I can tell in your eyes, we back up and tackle on three?"

"You read me like book," Bolt replied with a tone of confidence.

I backed up about two feet, about the same distance Bolt backed up, and ran with all of my remaining strength toward the lightning mouse. My legs started to feel like jelly as I ran, and I closed my eyes to stop from seeing what would happen next. I felt the ruffled up partly singed fur of the pikachu body ram into me, sending me skidding across the sand. The power knocked the breath out of me as I was knocked onto the cool, comforting sand. Man, how the tackle took the breath out of me, and how breathless I was. I could have sworn I saw Bolt's body light up with electricity, as if he was using… Volt Tackle! How wise of him to use a move and take me down. Bolt stood wobbly where I was at a minute ago, breathing heavily.

"YOOM-TAH!" I heard Wigglytuff's voice yell out, which meant…

"The winner and the leader of the new beginner team is Bolt!"

"Ye… yes," I heard Bolt stammer in triumph before I heard a thud, meaning Bolt had fallen down and now was passed out cold. I knew it was over, and Wigglytuff would treat us all and fix all these injuries, so I relaxed in my position and ignored all the pains and aches I felt at the time, slowly drifting off to sleep.

**Later in the week**

As I felt my lazy eyes lift from my deep sleep, I found myself on a straw bed in a small room. As I sat up on the straw bed, I surveyed the area. I tried to remember the last thing that happened, and when I remembered that Bolt won the battle for the leader, I searched for him, only to find him in an identical straw bed with him sitting up on it, just like I was. His injuries from the battle earlier had been healed, and as I checked mine, I was fully healed too. We looked at each other, smiling cheerfully.

"So, how are you?" I asked him.

"Radical, 'bout you?"

"Fine, thank you, and you pulled of a great Thunder attack," I commented, remembering when he used Thunder against my Inferno Blast Spiral to send it out of control.

"You pulled of an amazing fire blast, uh, spiral, inferno, combo attack. I liked the fire blast best though dog."

"So, have you come up with a team name yet?" I asked, ignoring being called a dog.

"I just woke up man, what you think?" he asked which I was inferred to a no.

"Well, maybe one," he brought up as I pricked up my ears and listened.

"Let's combine two words of some kind, but I'm not sure what words we should snap together," he suggested.

"Um, Inferno…Bolt?" I offered, but seeing him cross his arms made me think otherwise.

"Joking, joking, I mean Bolt… Blast," I saved, Bolt giving me a thumb up signal as he nodded his head.

"Good, you're awake and healthy, have you guys decided a name?" Chatot chimed into the room. We turned our attention toward the hallway that Chatot came down and Bolt and I nodded at each other.

"Yes, Team BoltBlast," Bolt replied as Chatot left the room and came back with the news that we were officially a team. We smiled cheerfully at each other, confident that we would become one of the best exploration teams around.


	4. Night Hunt, Part 1

**Inferno: Can you let me finish my story about Team Flash?**

** Me: NO!**

** Inferno: Please?**

** Bolt: Dude, why do you like talking about some wacked out team?**

** Inferno: They're my role model, and another reason I set out on a journey for becoming an adventurer! You would have known that if I wasn't interrupted last time.**

** Bolt: Shadow snivy, why didn't you-**

** Me: And we're out of time! Now read on!**

** Bolt: Well I'll find out next chapter…**

**Bolt's view**

** "**Well now, it's getting close to curfew, so quickly head to the mess hall for some dinner and quickly scamper on back here," Chatot squawked. Chatot left with a spring in his step as he headed on out into the hallway.

"So I'm guessing this is our room?" Inferno asked.

"It sure looks like it, the way Chatot described it," I replied.

"And we get our own straw beds!" Inferno exclaimed happily.

"Anyways, ready to get your chow on?" I asked cheerfully, springing onto my two hind legs.

"Yeah!" he replied in an excited tone.

"Let's go!" I screamed optimistically as we rushed down the dirt path into that big room, the second underground level. We stood in the middle of the place with other Pokémon that looked starving, way more than Inferno and I was. These must have been the other Pokémon who trained at the guild, so I decided to go up and say hi to a few Pokémon.

I walked up to a Pokémon that was mostly purple and had a big mouth. "S'up, the name's Bolt," I greeted.

"HELLO! My name is LOUDRED! I WORK here at THIS guild! NICE to MEET you!" His voice was super loud, and not to mention annoying. It rattled my ear drums and by looking around, everyone else's too. I quickly covered my ears but it still screeched terribly. It was the guy who talked through the grate when Inferno and I were outside earlier, definitely. I stretched out my hand to shake his, but he pushed out his fist, so we ended up fist bumping, so I thought this guy was chill.

Next, I went over to Bidoof, the little gopher Pokémon. I think it was time to talk to some Pokémon that I already knew, and Bidoof was one of my best bros.

"Hey B-dog, how's it hangin'?"

"Great! Today, I actually got to do a rescue mission by myself! Also, you're here now, so that's pretty sweet! How are you?" Bidoof responded cheerfully.

"It is super smashing bro, and I have a sweet offer for you, are you up for it?"

"Go for it."

"I need you to show me and my friend Inferno around the guild. You know, because we're new and stuff, are I right or are I right?"

"You mean lil' old me? Aw shucks," Bidoof replied, his cheeks a small tint of pink.

"Everybody, dinner is ready, come on in!" A soft and gentle voice rang out. A cute white and pink bell-like Pokémon levitated out of a room that I assumed was the mess hall. She made a small chiming noise of a bell as she moved through the air. I already knew her as Chimecho from a time in Spinda's café. We were both enjoying Sitrus berry slushy's and some apple pie I brought over. Man, my old peep made some scrumptious apple pie.

Everybody in the room started to cheer, yell, and some were still complaining, which most Pokémon were doing earlier.

"Let's go Inferno!" I yelled so he could hear me, but I hadn't realized it till seconds later that he already scooped me on his back and was carrying me inside, toward a giant table. When I looked around, I saw several plates, but somewhere around the other end of the table had two plates right next. Under the plates read, "_Bolt_," and, "_Inferno,_" carved in the table. I jumped off Inferno and sat down on a grass patch seat, which felt even more radical than the straw beds.

What I saw on the plates made me gasp, mind blown. Fresh Oran berries, at least five on each plate, big apple slices, a sandwich with onions, lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes, and a Sitrus berry slushy to drink. Everyone else had milk, even Inferno. I looked over at Chimecho who was a few seats away, and saw that she was looking at me, and she winked. She was probably returning the favor from me sharing apple pie and Sitrus berries at Spinda's Café.

I looked over at Inferno and saw him gobbling down an Oran berry then he lapped up milk from a wooden bowl. I noticed that my stomach was pretty small, so Inferno and I must have been knocked out for a long time. I took a small bite out of the sandwich as my stomach demanded more, so I wolfed the rest of it down and ate the berries happily. When everyone seemed to finish, we all went into are rooms. When I looked out the window we had in our room, I saw a crescent moon among the several stars.

"Hey Bolt," Inferno started, "Are you excited for tomorrow, I can't sleep!"

"Yeah bro, my eyelids refuse to shut!" I replied.

"Great then, come over here," some other voice suddenly blurted out of nowhere. I was pretty sure it wasn't me and it didn't sound close to Inferno.

"Bolt, was that you?" Inferno asked.

"No bro, now who's there?" I quietly screamed, wondering how someone could have gotten in the room in the first place.

"Shh! Keep it down, do you want to wake up Chatot, Wigglytuff, or any of the new guard dogs we have now?" I looked over by the window, to see a silhouette of a Pokémon. I couldn't make out who it was, but I could tell it was a member of the guild, definitely.

"Wait, what guard dogs?" Inferno asked, with the tone of fright but excitement.

"I'll tell you guys everything later, just head to the mess hall, by using this secret path." A weird hand with long fingers swiped over a spot under the window, and then the hand slowly pulled back. Then his hand launched forward and stabbed its way in the same spot as a few rocks and lots of dirt came down. Confused, I squinted to see what happened, but I couldn't see it clearly. Then weirdly, lights flashed on, showing a secret tunnel. Lights continued to progress as you looked farther down into the tunnel.

When I looked around to see whoever was here earlier, I saw the shadowy silhouette running down the long hallway, heading to who knows where. Inferno looked over at me, his eyes filled with determination. We both nodded at each other in the dim light, fell to all fours, and slowly started to crawl inside the tunnel, Inferno leading.

**Inferno's view**

As I led ourselves through the tunnel, I still wondered why we were doing this and who the guard dogs were. Thinking of canine Pokémon freaked me out, since it was one of my fears. I could hardly keep my fear inside me when I was under that dog pile of poochyena from when we entered the guild. I had to look cool so everyone in that area back then didn't think I was afraid of Pokémon's best friend. Well I hoped we wouldn't run into the Pokémon, whatever they were. As we continued down the path, the air started to get thicker and smokier and it started to get hard to breathe.

I looked back at Bolt, or moving my eyes as far back as they could to see him, but all I could see was his reflection in the glass of the cave lamp. In the reflection, I saw him panting and dripping with sweat while he starred at the ground. I looked at my own body and saw I was uncontrollably panting as well, despite myself being a fire type. As we crawled more which seemed like ten minutes, but was probably only one or two, I ran into a wall. It made me collapse to the ground as my legs grew weak and I panted louder and harder.

When I accidently ran into the wall, the wall crashed down, oddly enough, revealing a ladder that led up to a floor. This wasn't one of the main ladders that connected the first and second underground floor levels of the guild, so I guessed it was some sort of secret ladder. Curious, I slowly moved my head out of the tunnel, and climbed up the secret ladder. It seemed like you could only have access to this ladder if you came in from the tunnel, or from whatever was at the top. I climbed up the ladder, wobbly. My paws nearly slipped off the ladder, almost falling down and landing on Bolt again. I made it to the top in a small space, exhausted, and looked down the ladder at Bolt. He was taking a break at the small space at the bottom, with him being exhausted as well.

I then noticed I was by a wall, which seemed to be a bush. I decided this was some cover-up for the entrance to this ladder and the tunnel. After another minute, I slowly crawled through the bush. On the other side, I took a small rest again, not aware of my surroundings. After another minute, I sat up and looked around.

I noticed this was a floor of the guild, but not the one with the mess hall and bedrooms. This meant we were on the other floor, the one with the weird boards hanging on the walls.

It seemed as if no one was on this floor, so I turned around to face the bush. "It is clear Bolt, come on out."

I heard Bolt's footsteps as he slowly climbed up the ladder, then after a minute, he rolled through the bush into the clearing. "Inferno, *pant, pant*, I not going to, *pant*, make it any longer," he over dramatized.

"When I die, *pant* take care of the kids for me and find them a good home, bro, *pant*."

"What kids, you don't have any!" I quietly screamed.

"And don't forget to tell my peep, I love her, *hack, hack*," and then he pretended to be dead.

"Are you done yet?" I asked, not amused.

"Yeah," he replied as he got back on his two hind legs and brushed himself off. Man, he probably had been taking a class in a drama theater of some sort, he's way over dramatic.

"Well now what?" Bolt asked.

"Well you're the leader, you tell me," I cleverly countered. He seemed to be thinking real hard before a voice came out of nowhere.

"Shh, hurry and come over here, into the mess hall." At the time, it seemed like the best choice, so we trusted the Pokémon and dropped onto our knees and elbows. We then followed a silhouette and started to crawl through the darkness. When I looked at the silhouette, I noticed it was shaped like a flower. Which Pokémon at the guild was shaped like a flower, it was… some Pokémon called Flora or something.

I then saw we were approaching the wall, but without question, I continued to follow Flora. Then that was when I saw a bush against the wall, understanding that was some sort of secret passage. I watched Flora moonwalk into the bush, and Bolt followed her. That made me the last one to enter, so I quickly passed through the bush.

On the other side, it was completely dark. On the other side of the bush, there were windows that gave out some light, but in here it was pure darkness. I quickly stopped in place, afraid that I would've walked into something.

"Whoever's there, at least turn on a light switch of some-," I started to demand, before some voice interrupted me.

"Can you keep your voice down, or the guard dogs will hear you." Since I had that stupid fear of canine Pokémon, I quickly tried to cover my mouth with my paw, but with no light, I accidently slapped my forehead.

"Here, breathe a little flame into this," a gentle voice asked. Right after that, I felt something hit my knee, so I used my vision to concentrate really hard on it. Ended up it was a candle, so I used a weak Flamethrower on it. The room seemed to light up fast, showing what most of this secret room looked like.

The place was small, and the walls seemed to be covered in patches of grass, as if it was used as wallpaper. The ground was aligned with straw which was comfortable, and this place was pretty roomy. I then saw all the mysterious Pokémon in the room. One was Chimecho, Bidoof, that flower who led us in here, Flora, and some kind of frog Pokémon that must have been the one in our room earlier.

"Um, so why are we here?" Bolt questioned.

"For the night hunt!" Bidoof yelled cheerfully. Chimecho, Flora, and the frog shushed him as Bidoof shrank back in fear.

"What's the night hunt?" I asked curiously in a whisper.

"The night hunt is when the newcomers do a midnight mission before their first day by capturing one of the attack dogs, and then brings him back here while he is knocked out. Sunflora, Croagunk, I, and now, Bidoof are the ones you come to for the mission," Chimecho explained, telling me the flower's name was actually Sunflora, and who the frog was, while making me nervous. What kind of monster dog was it? An arcanine, mightyena, or stoutland, what could it be?

"Why do we have to do this?" I asked, hoping it was a bad reason.

"Part of it is for fun!" Sunflora exclaimed in a whisper.

"But most of it is to show how tough you can be. We keep track of how much time it takes you to do it, while checking how tired, exhausted, or beaten down you look when you get back," Croagunk explained.

"We also judge how scared or hesitant you are on taking the job," Bidoof finished. I then felt myself starting to slightly shiver. Hopefully, Bolt wouldn't want to do it and we wouldn't-

"That sounds exhilarating!" Bolt yelled cheerfully, interrupting my train of thought. He wanted to go, which meant I had to come up with something in order to get out of it.

"Well, from traveling all the way here from the desert, I had only a few hours of sleep and, *yawn*, I'm really tired, and ever since I've been in town, I never slept more than three hours here. I think I'll fall asleep as soon as I climb down a ladder or walk around a bit longer," I lied.

"Well, that's too bad, 'cause I'm still gonna do it man," he persisted, surprising me. Whatever nasty, cruel, and terrible canine was out there, he couldn't capture one without me!

"Um, well you can't do it yourself, are you sure you want to still do this? It'll be really dangerous," I asked, still trying to persuade him.

"Well at least I'm not blabbing around that I'm tried as a messed-up excuse," He replied, not giving up on this thing. I sighed in defeat.

"Well fine, I'll come with you, but only so you don't get beaten to the core."

"Perfect guys, now hurry, it has been a while in here, so you have only about two hours till Chatot comes out and checks on the guard dogs, which he does every night, so you should hurry," Chimecho quietly explained before she shooed us out of the secret room, Bolt with the candle in his paw. Before she ducked back in, she whispered good luck to us. While we sat outside on the first underground floor, I looked intently through the dimly lit room. I felt fear rise in my stomach, knowing there was no turning back now.

Then thoughts came to me, mostly because of fear. Were the guard dogs all together in one place, or were they spread out like two by the entrance while one outside? Could they be huge and vicious, or are they trained to wake up Chatot when they see someone? Could they run really fast or bite really hard… or both? Could they-

"Hey Inferno my man, what are you doing just standing there, we have a mutt to catch," Bolt interrupted me in mid-thought. Bolt then tip-toed toward the ladder with the candle. It was the ladder that led up to the entrance. Bolt started to climb it, and I followed uneasily behind. I felt my paws ache and my legs shiver, fear starting to take over my body. The tips of my fingers started to feel numb and two of my tails shrank back in between my legs. I also tried hard to resist the urge to whimper and whine. It made it really hard to climb up the ladder and I knew if I let go, it would make enough noise so that the guard dogs would be aware of us. I stepped on one of my tails and ignored my instinct to scream. I nearly let go of the ladder a handful of times because of the shivering, aches, and numbness.

"Hey dude, my arm is getting tired, can you hold the candle for me?" Bolt asked, and before I could reject, he dropped the candle stick, so I reached out my quivering arm for it so it didn't crash to the ground and probably light the ground on fire or something. I ended up catching it luckily in my paw, so as I clenched my paw round it tight. I had only one hand, or paw, to help me climb. Soon, I earned a splinter in my right hind paw, so I climbed way slower, and it felt like a lifetime trying to get to the top, the ladder climbing taking forever. It still took a while when Bolt quietly yelled from the top of the ladder, 'Hurry up man," and "I now see why you're called 'Slowbro''.

All I felt was fear, anger, and embarrassment.

When I finally made it to the top I couldn't believe that Bolt didn't see how hard it was for me. I didn't care though; I could do it on my own, barely. We made it to the top floor right by the entrance, and I was exhausted. I put the candle stick down carefully. Luckily, it seemed like none of the guard dogs were on this floor. I looked out through the iron bar gate, seeing two silhouette figures pacing back and forth, but it was too dark to see which Pokémon species they were. I wondered if the other guard dog was out there somewhere or if it was somewhere inside the guild.

Then I saw Bolt grab the candle stick, and he ordered me to head back down. Confused, I tried to ask him why but he silenced me, demanding me to go down. I shrugged, and started the descent of going down the ladder. I then sneakily stayed put on the ladder, my head still in the viewing range of Bolt. I saw him pull his arm back, the candle in that paw's grasp, and he then chucked it towards the gate. The candle stick slipped between the iron bars and it must have landed somewhere outside, really close to a guard dog. Bolt then started to jump down the ladder, and he started to drag me down in a hurry. We landed on the floor below us with a silent thud. I heard two faint howls, a part of some sort of protection system.

Bolt acted as if he knew what he was doing, as he ordered me to head downstairs. I gulped, knowing that the last guard dog had to be somewhere down there. Before I could object, Bolt growled at me for hesitating. Surprised at his actions, I quickly followed his orders, wishing myself luck. He then told me what to do while I started to head down. He ordered me to wait in the shadows by the entrance to the mess hall. Then I was supposed to wait till I saw a figure walk out, then use Flamethrower on it. Then he said to pull the figure in the shadows with me and be as still and silent as I could be. Then he said he'd take care of the rest.

I had no idea how Bolt could know any of this, so I decided it was best if I waited till after we'd done whatever to ask him. One thought stuck at the corners of my mind as I headed down the ladder.

_What was Bolt thinking?_


End file.
